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Topic Review (Newest First)

05-18-2010 09:46 PM

wind_magic

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdw

Now personally I could not give a flying fluck whether she has set any records or not. She did circumnavigate and she did it in fine style.

I totally agree with this.

I seem to remember Tania Aebi having to go through the same stuff after her circumnavigation, people saying that she had not set a record because she gave a friend an 80 mile ride from one island to another during her trip. Who cares. The people who make up these rules probably never even do any significant sailing, and as far as I'm concerned Tania Aebi set a record, and so did Jessica Watson. Whether she gets recognized by one organization or another doesn't even matter to me, she did it her way.

Edit - Moitessier didn't even bother finishing the first non-stop around the world race, he got close to the finish line and just kept on sailing until he got back to Tahiti, but nobody says he didn't do well in that race!

05-18-2010 08:58 PM

tdw

The entire shite storm that has erupted around JW and the record thing really gets my goat. Scott (StillRaining) emailed me about and this is how I replied (extract)...

"The controversy over the record which has been portrayed by some as SailWorld being mean spirited could have been easily avoided had her PR wallah not been an utter sleazebag and her tacticians morons. Ignoring whether the record exists officially or not, they simply failed to read the rules or chose to ignore them. Then, they tried to shift the blame onto a journalist who had pointed their mistake out to them off the record and early enough, for them to have corrected it. A simple case of lets shoot the messenger. The fact that her PR people had also blatantly stolen the logo of the Pink Lady Apple Corporation does suggest they have the moral integrity of a band of stoats."

The SailWorld Journo has been in my opinion unjustly accused of being somehow jealous or envious of JW's achievements yet in every way she is factually correct and the JW team were told well in advance that the course JW was sailing did not cover the requirements for an around the world record.

Now personally I could not give a flying fluck whether she has set any records or not. She did circumnavigate and she did it in fine style. Sure as hell I wish I had the cojones to have done it at her age or indeed to do it now. A splendid achievement no doubt at all but crucifying the journo for simply telling the truth and correcting an error is something I do not understand or accept.

05-18-2010 07:41 PM

wind_magic

I think it's great that she was able to complete the trip.

And I still think she was too young, completing the trip doesn't change that.

05-15-2010 09:57 AM

smackdaddy

Dude, you cried? Just kidding.

I was a naysayer. I'll eat my crow now. She did an incredible thing. No doubt.

05-15-2010 09:30 AM

chall03

Bravo Jess. Bravo.

Today my wife and I went down and watched Jessica Watson sail into Sydney Harbour along with literally tens of thousands of other people who felt inspired enough to give up a Saturday to witness and honour the achievement of a 16 year old girl. It was somewhat of a spectacle. There were speeches by our Prime Minister, every TV station in the country covered the homecoming and the harbour was literally packed with boats.

When all is said and done, when the controversy is silent and the bulldust has cleared.....what is left is that she is a remarkable girl who has done a remarkable thing. This is what I think today captured my nations heart, it made us think about the things we could all do and could all be.

I cried today...I absolutely balled my eyes out as I watched this 16 year old girl sail into my beautiful harbour having done what I have not yet had the courage or conviction to attempt in my 30 years of existence.

Bravo Jess. Bravo.

05-11-2010 03:34 AM

blackjenner

She did something I'll never do.

She did so it, she circumnavigated alone, and she's in an elite club. I think it was said that more people have gone to the moon than have done what she has done. She deserves that credit.

As for SailWorld? Screw them.

As for the the naysaying pikers who pick at the technicalities of what she has done, screw them too.

As for her PR team, yeah, them too.

I'll bet not a one of them has done this and never will.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” -- Teddy Roosevelt

05-07-2010 07:35 PM

calden

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdw

She is good, no doubt about it and she has done so much better than I ever gave her credit for but her PR crew appear to be a bunch of scumbags who could comfortably nap on a corkscrew.

Ha ha ha! Is this a peculiarly Australian exrpression? Love it! I'm going to pull it out and see how they respond here in the States.

Also - I'm with you about "the record" nonsense. As far as I am concerned, she and Abby Sunderland both deserve a ton of credit and fanfare for their accomplishments, along with any other young-ish person who has the maturity and forethought to undertake something like this. Parsing it down to mileage or months just to win a competition is missing the point of what this is about. Really.

And I'm totally disgusted by Sail World magazine (is that the name?) Sure, if they want to question the specs and mileage it's their right, I guess, but it's awfully tacky and catty to bring this up RIGHT NOW as Jessica is preparing to arrive. It's so condescending: "Oh, yes, you've done something MAHVELOUS but, oh dear, it's not QUITE up to snuff, too bad, so sad, I guess now you won't be so happy arriving at the Opera House." They certainly could have raised this point a month or two down the line. It smacks of personal crap and just makes them look bad.

Carlos

05-07-2010 04:14 AM

chall03

TD. Well extrapolated as always

I don't have the links/quotes at hand, but yeah early in her blog she was fairly clear about setting out to 'break the record'.

To take nothing away from what she has done, there seems to be some very confusing rhetoric coming from her camp......Oh and I always get worried when I hear the words.....book deal and manager....

05-07-2010 12:15 AM

tdw

Quote:

Originally Posted by smackdaddy

Bunfight? I LOVE a good bunfight!

Congrats to Jess.

Record or no record is quite irrelevent really...she has achieved a great deal, far more than I have and I'm over three times her age.

Reality is however that her PR brigade have been portraying this as an attack on an official record, a record that in fact does not even exist anymore and they knew that right from the start. While only going public last week, Sail World reckon they had contacted Team Watson in April last year re this query.

I'm also liking the brouhaha re the infringement of the Pink Lady copyright.

She is good, no doubt about it and she has done so much better than I ever gave her credit for but her PR crew appear to be a bunch of scumbags who could comfortably nap on a corkscrew.

To be honest I don't really care other than the fact that I have something of a complete loathing for this kind of PR bovine excretia.

05-06-2010 10:21 PM

smackdaddy

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdw

Developing bunfight.......looks like the JW support team didn't bother to read the rules.